Now, where do I start? I loved making this stuff! Most of the things were on my sewing list anyway, so I just had to find some fabrics in the right colours. I also decided to include more than one garment in the challenge, since the skirt needed an underskirt anyway and when I saw the colours, the Turbulence immediately made me think about that melange jersey I saw at the fabric store.

Haven’t worn a skirt that hits above the knees for at least 10 years… doesn’t look that bad, does it?

Anyway, here are some details! The fabric for the skirt was actually in my stash for about a month and I have no idea what it is made of. It was labeled “Designer Fabric”. But it is a woven fabric. I love the dark blue with the brighter stripes in Mykonos Blue. The idea for skirt pattern came from a german sewing page with looots of tutorials, it’s called the “Victory Faltenrock” (Victory Pleated Skirt). I just made a normal skirt instead of a mini skirt, added a waistband, divided the front panels, changed the position of the zipper to the right side and hid it like it’s normally done with jeans. I think it might be my biggest sewing project up until now! (I didn’t realise all this piping would take that much time, I never sewed a zipper in this way and don’t even get me started on the pleats) And I just LOVE it! It took me ages to figure out how to alter the pattern so the stripes on the pleats would be more or less parallel. And how I wanted to place the stripes on the the rest of the skirt. I went for the “different everywhere” solution, but I did match the stripes at the center front and center back. Another detail I just love, are the pockets under the pleats. And now, some pictures!

The zipper, skirt fastening and the waistband – the inner side of the waistband is made of a soft cotton twill from my stash.

A closeup of the top of the pleats – with some piping!

The piping is made of the same fabric as the rest of the skirt. I didn’t cut it on the bias, but wanted the brighter blue stripes to be visible on it.

And here’s the side view of the skirt!

I also wanted to have a matching underskirt. Only, I didn’t make an underskirt but a pair of tap pants (also called culottes – such a cute word). There’s a tutorial for drafting the pattern and sewing them here. I did alter the pattern a little here and there, used lingerie elastic at the waist and simply hemmed the legs. As the front and back are looking quite similar, I rummaged around a little and came up with a sequil and a matching little bead from my mother, which I sewed on to mark the front. And gone is the fear of short skirts and gusts of wind!

The sequil and bead are a dark green

The bolero is a very simple one, I found it more than once on the internet already. I used this tutorial, but I must confess it’s a little too big for me. And I did scale it down already! Apparently just not enough. I found this woven tape with a black, white and grey tartan pattern, but next time I’ll sew a bolero I’ll get bias tape – the woven tape was so slippery I needed to hand baste it all around before sewing it on 😉

Oh, and it looks totally boring on photos.

A closeup of the woven fabric

And just because I want to mention it: I listened to Ayreon while sewing this stuff. In fact, to everything from Ayreon (even the bonus CDs)! Totally awesome project by Arjen Lucassen!

So that was the TSW Reuninon 2013 for me, I had lots of fun with it! And it was a real challenge for me to work with colours… I’m one of those persons who mostly wears black 😉